Spotlight Young Adult Advisory Board

Tiffany Hunsinger

I am originally from Indiana, but I now live in Dayton, OH.  I am a PhD candidate in theology at the University of Dayton where I also teach through my assistantship. I wanted to join the Young Adult Advisory Board because young Catholics are critical in shaping the Church’s response to the climate crisis. As someone engaged in faith-based social justice work, I see the intersection between environmental issues and other justice concerns, from migration to economic inequality. The Catholic Climate Covenant provides a space where faith and action meet. I wanted to be part of a team that helps mobilize young adults to bring their energy, creativity, and prophetic witness to the forefront of climate advocacy within the Church. I see hope in the growing number of young Catholics reclaiming their faith as a call to justice, including care for creation. Despite the challenges we face—from ecological destruction to institutional inertia—I am constantly inspired by the grassroots movements of students, religious communities, and lay leaders living out Laudato Si’ in tangible ways.

Katie Brown

Originally from Atlanta, GA; currently living in Boston, MA. I work as the Program Manager for the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. I wanted to join the YA Advisory Board because I fully believe that the Catholic Church has the capacity to be an agent of transformation and moral guidance in the U.S response to climate change. For this to be holistic and successful, it has to involve young people – and I want to be one of them! I see hope in all of the faith leaders that I have the privilege of working with through my job in multi-faith environmental advocacy. The witness they bear to reality by boldly speaking out against environmental injustices, and the way that they speak truth to power and deliver the gospel to politicians and policy makers on Capitol Hill is incredibly inspiring and life-giving. In my spare time I love to run – currently training for my fourth Boston Marathon this Spring! I also coach cross country and track for a local high school and teach Confirmation classes at my parish. Spending time with youth in our community has been another space of immense hope and joy for me lately:)  

Cari Nunziato

As a former biologist and ecologist, I have a long history thinking about and working on behalf of the natural world. Concern for climate change, and its predicted negative impacts on not only the ecosystems of the world but also on the wellbeing of human beings, particularly the poorest of us, was instilled in me from a young age, and I have carried this deep concern and conviction with me into adulthood.  While I was raised Christian, it wasn’t until I became Catholic that I was able to better clarify the relationship between my identity as an environmentalist and my faith. Rather than adopting the position of many of my friends and colleagues, who consider the flourishing of the human being as often working in antithesis to the flourishing of the natural world, my Catholic framework suggests to me that human beings are an integral part of the created order. I joined the YAAB out of a desire to find community with like-minded people. I would love to see more opportunities for parishioners of all ages and political/cultural backgrounds to get involved in environmental justice and creation repair through their local parish communities. I see hope in the massive shift that’s going on in the economics of renewable energy, particularly in the solar industries. The story of solar’s astonishing drop in price on a timescale previously thought of as unthinkable is a good reminder that humans can run their models but we never know when a major data point (human or scientific) will shift and change the calculations and narratives entirely. 

Connor Rockett 

I am from Massachusetts and now live in Boston. Throughout my life as a Catholic, I have been shaped by communities of faith with a commitment to active discipleship for the common good. This focus led me to a career in environmental policy and sustainability. Since the most vulnerable of society – the poor, migrants, the excluded –  are most susceptible to the impacts of environmental degradation and the climate crisis, I strongly believe that justice and mercy require profound responses to these challenges. To draw on Pope Francis’ insights in Laudato Si’, I am inspired by the vision for a world in which care for creation runs throughout our livelihoods, institutions, and the Church, as part of our response to God’s love. I see hope in the members of the Young Adult Advisory Board. Through our meetings and conversations, I always come away feeling renewed and refreshed by their examples of a living faith that acts for justice and mercy. They are protagonists for integral ecology who are bringing about renewal in the Church and society.

Matthew Groves

I grew up in southwest Virginia, in the rural Appalachian mountains. I have worked as a youth pastor, climate activist, and teacher, and I also do some diocesan support work with Laudato Si’ implementation. I grew up in a world where lots of people were “outdoorsy” and farmed, but didn’t treat climate change seriously. When I went to college, lots of people there accepted climate science, but had few real connections with nature. When someone gave me a copy of Laudato Si in college, it helped me put into words that the Christian vision of our relationship with creation has to include both! That began my journey towards converting to Catholicism.  

I joined the Young Adult Advisory Board to be part of a community within the Church that is responding to the call to action of Laudato Si’ and that is applying Catholic Social Teaching to the challenge of climate change. I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this work, which touches on synodality, lay agency within the Church, and the cultivation of faithful communities. My wife and I spend a lot of time with our books (too many!), in our garden (too small!), or with our daughters (just right!)

Marylu Vazquez 

I was born in Michoacan, Mexico but have lived in El Paso, Texas for most of my life. I have a M.S in Speech Language Pathology and practiced full time in pediatric speech therapy for nearly 8 years. I am now a full time community organizer with Industrial Areas Foundation and I am loving it as I get to promote the common good and often use my faith as a channel for change. I have always felt connected to nature. When I learned that the Catholic faith has so many resources calling us to to care for creation, I felt nourished and deeply called to advocate for ecological justice. This is an issue that affects everyone and when loving dialogue is involved, I believe that more and more people can get behind advocating for ecological justice.